NewPath plans enhanced wireless network for PV

The Paradise Valley Town Council has given its initial endorsement for a plan that could bring enhanced wireless service to Paradise Valley.

NewPath Networks, a Seattle-based wireless-infrastructure company, filed a special-use permit application with the town to install a distributed antenna system, a newer, more compact technology than cellphone towers.

Town Manager James Bacon said NewPath would install the DAS infrastructure on leased public property and then lease access to its wireless network to carriers.

How much revenue the new infrastructure could generate still is in negotiation, he said.

The statement of direction approved by the council is not a final decision, but it allows the Planning Commission to begin its vetting process.

The council still must give final approval before any work could begin.

The plan proposes 42 node sites, which would expand a system that NewPath is constructing in Scottsdale.

Existing vertical elements in the town right-of-way, such as streetlights and traffic signals, will be used for the antenna installations where possible, according to the statement of direction. Otherwise, 24-foot faux saguaros will be used to blend with existing landscape.

Stephen Garcia, director of external affairs/land use for NewPath, said the faux cactus models are shorter than the 40- to 60-foot palm-tree towers that are used for cellular transmission.

"New structures will need to be installed because Paradise Valley doesn't have a lot of vertical infrastructure," Garcia said. "The new infrastructure would increase services, with better quality and higher capability for better data services to residents."

Garcia said NewPath's infrastructure in Paradise Valley will be compatible with technology advances.

DAS is designed to provide coverage to multiple wireless providers via a single fiber-optic backbone.

AT&T is the first provider on NewPath's network.

However, Garcia said that due to the lack of wireless-network sites throughout the town, carriers had little or no expectation that Paradise Valley would work with NewPath to design a wireless master plan. Garcia said once the network is established, competing providers likely will become tenants on the network.

"If (the plan) is approved by the council, the other carriers will benefit from the time and patience that NewPath dedicated to working collaboratively with the town to develop the wireless master plan and eventually the millions of dollars that NewPath will invest to build, operate and maintain the fiber-optic DAS network to meet the town's high development standards," Garcia said.

Bacon said most feedback about the possible new infrastructure has been positive.

An open house will be held later this month to educate the public about the infrastructure.

Garcia said the Planning Commission review should be complete by July, after which the council will vote on the plan.